PORT TOWNSEND — A football player from Life Christian Academy High School in Tacoma had been released from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle by Saturday afternoon after suffering a neck injury in Friday night’s game against Chimacum High School at Memorial Field.
Daniel Thatcher, a sophomore defensive lineman, was injured during the homecoming game when he collided head-on with a Chimacum player who was blocking for a running back shortly before halftime, said Chimacum coach Shawn Meacham.
The Chimacum player was not hurt.
Meacham said Life Christian Academy football coach Todd Corrigan told him that Thatcher suffered a muscle tear in his neck from the collision.
Corrigan also told him that the player didn’t receive a concussion, but he may not be able to play for the rest of the season.
Thatcher was conscious and mobile after the collision, but told medics that he felt pain from his neck down to his back, Meacham said.
“Well, you just hope that he’s OK,” he said when asked what he was thinking at the time of the injury.
“I think everyone realizes that could be anybody on either team at any moment.”
Thatcher was airlifted to Harborview from Jefferson Healthcare hospital in Port Townsend at about 9 p.m.
Jim Vaughan, Jefferson Healthcare house supervisor, said Saturday that the hospital’s CAT Scan machine was being repaired at that time but he didn’t know if that prompted the airlift.
Chimacum won the game 32-20.
Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.